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Journal: |
I turned up for breakfast at 7:30am along with most of the other
non-student guests, having been told the students would be eating at
8am. I packed and left soon after 8:15am with the intent of
trying to walk the 24km to Bellingham, my goal for the day, with
minimal breaks and food. I thought it possible I could get
there by 2pm and thus be in time to get a pub meal and an afternoon
off.
Firstly, I had to return the 1km from the Hostel to the Pennine
Way and then I continued my walk along Hadrian's Wall. It was
very up and down, and I was soon puffing, but had the place to
myself. There was a low cloud cover and a cold northerly wind
blowing. I empathised with the Roman soldiers standing guard
on the wall 1700 years ago. It was bleak but inspiring.
After about an hour, the Pennine Way left Hadrian's Wall and
headed north across the Northumberland moors. Fortunately, the
strong wind meant that the grass had dried, but there were
many boggy sections and I took my time getting around them, using my
trekking pole as a prod and support, to try and keep my feet and
boots dry. Generally, I was successful, though never knew
whether the next bog would be too big to get around, making my
efforts futile and time-consuming. Although it was undulating,
there were no big hills and I could maintain a reasonable pace.
Farmhouses were few and far between but, as usual, there were plenty
of sheep and lambs to be seen.
At times the path passed through Wark Forest, part of a huge
conifer plantation, which made for a pleasant change of scene
though, out of the wind, the undergrowth was quite wet in places and
there were some more challenging bogs. Around 1pm, the path
climbed over Ladyhill at 257m, then began a steady descent to
Bellingham. I reached the town at 2:15pm and decided to give
lunch a miss. I found the Post Office and collected my map
parcel then found the B&B I had booked. After a shower, and
some planning for the next few days with my new maps, I walked 100m
to the village shopping centre and bought some supplies, including a
tubular bandage to use on the middle toe of my right foot which is
beginning to look and feel a bit strange.
It has irked me mightily to find that I have no wireless coverage
here for either my phone or the internet. It's a
reasonably-sized little town and I can't believe T-Mobile has no
coverage here. I'm starting to think I chose the wrong
carrier, but it's not worth changing now. I had hoped to spend
some of my free time booking accommodation ahead.
I spent the afternoon route-marking my maps and then watched some
TV in the communal lounge while I waited for Andy, the Pennine Way
hiker, to arrive, which he did around 6:30pm. He had stayed
further back last night so had had a long day. We went to the
recommended pub for dinner where the only menu item was a huge plate
of haddock and chips (the standard Thursday special). We ate
and talked about running (Andy, who is 50, is a 3:17 marathoner) and
hiking, before returning to the B&B for a relatively early night.
A shortish day tomorrow to Byrness (no relation), but I don't have
any accommodation booked, so will be hoping I can get a room,
despite it being a very small place.
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